Over the past 25 years, Olin Partnership has master
planned the open space component of Battery Park City,
NY, as well as, designed the first phases of the Esplanade.
Most recently Wagner Park was completed, opening in
1996. The addition of the Museum of Jewish Heritage
to the north of Wagner Park has provided an opportunity
for a new landscape, one that must successfully resolve
the interface of the design of South Cove; inspired
by coastal environments, with the vibrant deconstructionist
Wagner Park. Further, streets will be demapped to enhance
and enlarge the park, now slightly larger than 2 acres.
The design is inspired by Jewish mysticism where
creation is seen as an active process. The scheme
not only maintains its significance by the adjacency
of the museum, but it also becomes the mediator between
the creation of the natural environment, albeit manmade,
and the active creation of Wagner Park.
Throughout this new park, vehicles need to be accommodated,
including 45 foot fire trucks, service vehicles to
the museum, and maintenance vehicles. The scheme has
been developed to allow these uses to coexist with
the pedestrian environment, yet they do not visually
dominate the design.
The concept for the landscape design is derived from
ideas of metaphoric vessels (kelim) described in Jewish
mysticism, where creation is seen an active process
that began by an act of divine contraction (tzimtzum),
a space-making process that allowed things to come
into being. The process of creation continued as the
divine light flowed into the vacuum created by this
contraction. This light flowed into vessels, some
of which shattered when they were unable to contain
the divine light. The shattering of these vessels
caused the divine sparks to be scattered throughout
the universe. God begins to repair the vessels but
they shatter again and again, a cyclical process of
destruction and
recreation. It is said that God leaves the vessels
only partially mended - it is humanity's job to complete
the process of creation by restoring the divine sparks
to their proper places, thus participating in tikkun
olam, the repair of the world.
|
